Technical Abstract:
Campylobacter, one of the most important human enteropathogens in developed countries world-wide, is frequently recovered from broiler carcasses. Rinsing broiler carcasses with an aliquot of sterile liquid is a commonly used procedure for acquiring Campylobacter isolates from contaminated poultry. Over time, a viscous fluid or weep exudes from the broiler carcasses which have been retail packaged. This fluid can contain bacteria that were loosely attached to the carcass and if analyzed using cultural methodology, a potential means of detecting Campylobacter-contaminated carcasses. Experiments were conducted to compare the efficacy of a weep sampling method to a carcass rinse method. In trial one, retail carcasses were purchased. Packages were opened and 0.1 ml aliquots of weep fluid from the retail package were plated onto Campy-cefex agar. Carcasses were removed from the package and rinsed in 100 ml of sterile water. Following this procedure, 0.1 ml aliquots of the rinsate were plated onto Campy-Cefex agar. Following 36 h of incubation at 42 C in microaerobic atmosphere, plates were observed for typical Campylobacter colonies which were later confirmed. In trial 2, after being allowed to thaw for 48 h, 18 frozen carcasses were sampled by the methods just described. In trial 1, 28/50 carcass rinses were positive for the organism while only 22/50 weep samples yielded Campylobacter isolates. In trial 2, the Campylobacter recovery results were 7/18 and 9/18, respectively for rinse and weep methods. While less sensitive than rinse sampling for fresh retail carcasses, the weep method was more effective than rinsing for recovery of Campylobacter from frozen carcasses. Weep fluid sampling offers a simple, effective means of detecting this important human enteropathogen from contaminated broiler carcasses.